Progress On Alligator Alley To Prevent Most Recreation

The isolated two-lane state road that has been nicknamed Alligator Alley is not just a way to get somewhere. Since 1968, it also has been a place to go.

Stargazers, fishermen, boaters, hunters, amateur photographers and campers pay their $1.50 toll to stake out a lazy turnoff in the quiet Everglades. There, they find the silence broken only by the sound of truckers, businessmen and tourists speeding from Fort Lauderdale to St. Petersburg or Naples to Miami.

``It`s nice and peaceful,`` said Tracy Shelton of Boca Raton, who went fishing along the highway in the bright sun Friday -- although nothing was biting.

But progress is catching up with Alligator Alley.

In mid-July, the state Department of Transportation will begin to widen the road to four lanes, two in each direction separated by a grassy 88-foot median.

At the same time, the DOT will build a fence along both sides of the entire 76-mile length and thus prevent the highway`s users from pulling off the road any old place for recreation. There will be only three carefully designed recreation access points.

They will be at the 38-mile marker near the Florida Trail in the Big Cypress Preserve in Collier County, in Broward at the 71-mile marker and at the Miami Canal. Each will have boat ramps and walk-in access for fishermen and hunters.

``You have a high-speed facility that`s designed to get from one point to another in a fast manner,`` said the DOT`s project manager, Tom Barry, in Tallahassee. ``To allow on-and-off locations, it becomes a safety concern.``

The road will be designated Interstate 75 and as part of the interstate network will be paid for almost entirely by the federal government. It is now officially called Everglades Parkway but is more commonly known as Alligator Alley, the nickname it was given when it opened.

Federal law requires such highways to be fenced to prevent motorists from avoiding toll booths. The law applies to Alligator Alley even though hardly anyone lives close enough to trespass, and there is only one connecting road.

Last week, property owners persuaded the Collier County Commission to request more openings in the 12-foot-high chain-link fence, which also is designed to keep wildife away from the highway. In Broward, where wildlife is less abundant, the fence will be 6 feet high and made of lighter wire, Barry said.

``It`s a shame. There`s so much building as it is,`` said Landry Cranisky of Deerfield Beach, who spent Friday afternoon away from work and in the quiet of the Everglades beside the road. ``Now they`re going to fence everybody out.``

Hundreds of the 5,000 daily users of the highway -- there will be an estimated 30,000 every day by the 1990s -- stop to camp or fish.

``If you took them by themselves, they`d be a pretty big group,`` toll supervisor June Buck said.

A coalition of environmental agencies asked the DOT for at least nine access points for recreation. The Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission wanted seven. And hunters and some conservationists opposed the fence completely.

State officials have said adding any recreational areas could cost more than $3.5 million, and the federal government says it won`t pay any of the cost.

``You`re really wasting that resource,`` said Wes Sarvis of the Wildlife Federation. Sarvis, a former member of the Everglades Coordinating Council, said Friday that he has hunted and fished in the Everglades for many of his 62 years.

``We`re overbuilding, and 90 percent of the people are losing what they really came here for -- an outdoor experience, the weather, not a concrete jungle.``

The design of the $383 million Alligator Alley widening includes some features to improve water flow through the swamp and to protect endangered Florida panthers.

``My candid feeling is that I hope and pray I-75 will improve the water flow in the conservation areas,`` Sarvis said. ``I can`t say I`m totally against it. I am totally against the confinement of this area that should be used, not fenced.``

Work on the easternmost 19 miles will begin July 9. The project is expected to be finished and the road completely widened by the end of 1990, officials said.